Artur Beterbiev’s promoter, Bob Arum, says he and Dmitry Bivol Shall be taking interim bouts earlier than assembly in a rematch in October 2025 for the opening of the Riyadh Season.
High Rank promoter Arum instructed Dan Rafael on X about undisputed mild heavyweight champion Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) and former WBA champ Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs) taking interim bouts subsequent.
Arum didn’t say who Beterbiev will face subsequent, however one risk is his obligatory IBF challenger, Michael Eifert. The IBF ordered Beterbiev vs. Eifert final week to occur subsequent. If Beterbiev desires to maintain that title and maintain onto his undisputed crown, he should face him or work a step-aside deal.
The draw back of delaying Beterbiev-Bivol’s struggle till October 2025 is that Beterbiev will probably be near 41 years outdated by then. Beterbiev turns 40 on January twenty first. If the rematch is delayed till October, he can be inside three months of turning 41. That’s nice for Bivol, who would have extra of a bonus, however not an excellent deal for Beterbiev or the followers.
What followers would favor to occur is for Beterbiev to face Canelo Alvarez or the winner of the David Benavidez or David Morrell struggle subsequent. These can be nice fights. Both a type of choices can be preferable to the obscure IBF obligatory Eifert (13-1, 5 KOd) being subsequent for Beterbiev.
It’s unlikely that Canelo will select to struggle Beterbiev as a result of excessive danger concerned. Canelo won’t be all in favour of going through a harmful puncher like Beterbiev as a result of he doesn’t possess the mobility that Bivol does. He must stand and struggle Beterbiev, and his probabilities of survival can be slim. It might be the identical factor for Bivol if he wasn’t on the transfer for 12 rounds.
Bivol ought to struggle one in all these contenders subsequent:
– Joshua Buatsi
– David Morrell
– David Benavidez
Ideally, Bivol ought to struggle a type of guys subsequent for his interim bout, however his promoter, Eddie Hearn, won’t be open to placing him in a dangerous struggle that he might lose earlier than going through Beterbiev. Bivol doesn’t possess the offensive abilities to beat any of these three fighters, and he can be compelled to maneuver round for 12 rounds to maintain from doubtlessly getting knocked out.
Beteriev defeated Bivol by a 12-round majority determination on October twelfth. The struggle was shut one with Bivol getting the higher of the slow-starting Beterbiev within the first half of the struggle, utilizing motion, jabbing, and mixture punching.
Within the second half, Beterbiev took over along with his strain, power-punching, and staying on high of Bivol. The scores had been 114-114-115-113 and 116-112. Bivol’s promoter Eddie Hearn argued afterward that he deserved the win by an 8-4 margin, and Beterbiev’s pictures had been picked off on his gloves.
The judges clearly noticed Bivol displaying no willingness to struggle and looking out in misery from the seventh spherical on. Bivol’s physique language was that of a fighter who had utterly wilted within the second half of the competition. You possibly can argue that he misplaced each spherical from spherical seven on. Clearly, Hearn and Bivol’s followers aren’t going to confess that he’d given up, however that was the truth that non-biased followers noticed.
